T Storms are a bummer (Read 588 times)

Wife woke at me up at 5:15 AM to say no thunder just drizzle if I was going to run. OH, she gets up early even on vacation as her normal hours of work are 11 PM to 7 AM. Didn't seem to bad so after checking my morning BG level and eating a small breakfast of carbs I did my streches and headed out. Nice light cool rain with some flashes of lightening off in the distance. But I could hear the heavy rain in hte trees to to south and it was coming my way fast. Oh well I'll just get soaked and my HRM will not need me to work up sweat to read correctly, no big deal. But that lightening is getting close! Well it is cloud to cloud and I'm on the ground. Started a slow jog to my start point as a warm up. Then a light so bright, that it was all I could see and my eyes hurt!!!!! Just blinking and seeing white noise for a time.
I sure wish I knew the distance and time back the house!!! I remember thinking I had a nice long fast stride at the time.

To paraphrase an old poster: Today is the first day of the rest of your training. It doesn’t matter where you started or how far you’ve come. Today is the day. Your training didn’t start 6 weeks ago. Your training started the last time you hit the road. John “the Penguin” Bingham Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire

Lighteing bolts are a bummer!!! I have been so close that my teeth hurt when I was a kid. We were picking up the kids across the street for school and a bolt hit the fence about 6 ft in front of the car. No thanks!!

To paraphrase an old poster: Today is the first day of the rest of your training. It doesn’t matter where you started or how far you’ve come. Today is the day. Your training didn’t start 6 weeks ago. Your training started the last time you hit the road. John “the Penguin” Bingham Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire

I've never ran during a thunderstorm, but my favorite run of all time was just before a thunderstorm. It was about 4 years ago and I was running alone out in the country (where my parents live). As the sun was setting, clouds started gathering in the distance, blotting out the sunset as they raced in my direction. I kept running towards the clouds and could see rain in the distance. As I turned around to head home the thunder got louder and louder as lightning flashed behind me. Both the rain and the lightning were clearly outpacing me, and about a mile from my parents house it started to drizzle. It was pretty dark by now, except for the flashes of lightning that were right overhead. It never seemed scary since I was in awe of what was going on around me... it was almost a spiritual experience to be alone and feeling/watching this storm. Then I heard a downpour and looked to my left to see a sheet of rain being blown in my direction. I sprinted down my parents driveway (now it was towards the approaching downpour) and ran into the garage just as the heavens let loose with all the water. I stood in the garage for a while watching the rain and absorbing the moment. I can still picture the sunset/clouds and downpour clearly in my mind.
Maybe the difference is whether or not you make it back home before the downpour starts

To paraphrase an old poster: Today is the first day of the rest of your training. It doesn’t matter where you started or how far you’ve come. Today is the day. Your training didn’t start 6 weeks ago. Your training started the last time you hit the road. John “the Penguin” Bingham Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire

I must admit, one of my very favorite memories is years ago when my hubby and I were out on our mountain bikes just tooling-around the neighborhood. Out of nowhere came the most amazing downpour. We were biking in inches of rain and soaked to the skin--but it was probably about 80º. We stopped for a few moments at the tiny yacht club on the little lake near where we lived. It must have been a Friday night, since some people were setting-up for a wedding reception the next day.
A little boy who was probably about the age our son is now stuck his head out the door and looked at us like we were crazy people (heh, I guess he wasn't too off-base with that assumption). He then asked very innocently "why are you out biking in the hard hard rain?"
That was really fun, though...we weren't biking so much as we were steering wheeled boats through the streets. It was pretty surreal as we saw no one else out, not even any cars.
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'15 Goals:

I feel your pain. We must live in the same general area - because my run was washed out yesterday morning, too. Good thing I got a late start; if I'd started my run on time, I would have been drenched miles from home.
But I've got to agree with the others - sometimes at least, running through a storm (or a hurricane or a tornado ... I draw the line at tsunamis, though) can be one helluva thrill. Last year while I was training for the Country Music marathon, I left on a long run on a beautiful sunny day. At about mile 7, the sky turned leaden and ugly. I scoffed at the danger. Mother Nature was no match for me.
By mile 10, with thunder drowning out my iPod and lighting actually hurting my eyeballs, I started to to wonder if I might have underestimated nature. By mile 13, the wind was whipping the rain hard enough to make it fly sideways. It actually hurt. And right about then, I realized that this was really, really stupid.
I kept right on running. Of course. Runners are, at their core, at least a little unbalanced.
It was the best run I've ever had. I felt invincible. I got home soaked to the skin, my shoes weighing about 10 pounds each, feeling wonderful. And the sun even came back.
Truly stupid. No question. I don't make a habit of it. But I highly recommend it once in a while.
(Please note: the management and/or yours truly is in no way, shape, or form legally responsible for the consequences of following the above mind-bogglingly stupid advice. Proceed at your own risk. Death, injury, and people pointing and laughing are all potential hazards of running in a storm.)

I was living down in FL when I was riding home on my motorcycle. Wow, that storm came up quickly and it really let loose the lightening. I was scared to death. In NE FL the lightening is quick and powerful and all of the bolts seem to land into something. The rain drops were huge and I could not even see the road. Puddles were forming everywhere and the motorcycle was taking it all in stride. I on the other hand was scared to death. Needless to say, I got soaked and even though it was 90+ outside, I needed a hot bath to warm up.